Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections for January 14, 2021

Representatives of three cities in Connecticut adopted the “Fundamental Orders,” the first written Constitution in an American colony and one of the first founding document to cite the authority of “the free consent of the people.”

On January 14, 1733, James Oglethorpe and the rest of the first colonists departed Charles Town harbor for what would become Savannah, and the State of Georgia.

The Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris to end the Revolutionary War on January 14, 1784. The Treaty was negotiated by John Adams, who would later serve as President, and the delegates voting to ratify it included future Presidents Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe.

On January 14, 1835, James M. Wayne took the oath of office as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. A Savannah native, Wayne had previously served in the Georgia House of Represestatives, as Mayor of Savannah, on the Supreme Court of Georgia, and in Congress. His sister was the great-grandmother of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of the Girl Scouts, and his home is now known as the Juliette Gordon Low house. When Georgia seceded from the Union, Wayne remained on the Supreme Court.

On January 14, 1860, the Committee of Thirty-Three introduced a proposed Constitutional Amendment to allow slavery in the areas it then existed.

Julian Bond was born on January 14, 1940 in Nashville, Tennessee, and was one of eleven African-American Georgians elected to the Georgia House of Representatives in 1965. After his election, on January 10, 1966, the State House voted 184-12 not to seat him because of his publicly-stated opposition to the Vietnam War. After his federal lawsuit was rejected by a three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the United States Supreme Court ordered Bond seated.

True story: Julian Bond was the first Georgia State Senator I ever met, when I was in ninth grade and visited the state Capitol.

On January 14, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamation No. 2537, requiring Japanese-Americans, including American-born citizens of Japanese ancestry, as well as Italians and Germans to register with the federal Department of Justice. The next month, Roosevelt would have Japanese-Americans interned in concentration camps in the western United States.

Georgia Politics, Campaigns, and Elections

Under the Gold Dome Today

The House and Senate Convene today for Legislative Day 4 of the 2021 Session.

Governor Brian Kemp delivered the State of the State Address this morning. You can watch it on GPB or Facebook.

From the AJC:

For the first time since taking office, however, Kemp didn’t propose a state-funded pay raise for educators when he released his budget proposal. However, the governor said the state would use federal CARES Act money to provide school systems with one-time, $1,000 per teacher and employee supplements that districts could use for bonuses.

The governor’s spending plan for the rest of fiscal 2021, which ends June 30, and fiscal 2022, would backfill more than 60% of what lawmakers cut from basic k-12 school funding in this year’s budget and tack on $573 million in funding next year.

Kemp’s $27.2 billion budget for the upcoming year includes a big increase in basic funding for the University System of Georgia as well, and it would borrow about $400 million for construction and upgrade projects on k-12 school, university and college campuses.

The plan also includes about $70 million to help struggling rural communities, including almost half for a grant program to help them get high-speed internet service this year and next.

Besides education, one of the big drivers of the budget increase next year is health care, with Medicaid — the program that covers the poor and disabled — slated for a $329 million increase. That’s in part because recipients who put off medical treatment and appointments during the pandemic are expected to see their doctors more in 2022.

Kemp’s proposal also includes $76 million for his program to increase health care availability for thousands of low-income Georgians.

Governor Kemp yesterday requested a Major Disaster Declaration for the Georgia Republican Party Tropical Storm Zeta damages, according to AccessWDUN.

The request was based on preliminary damage assessments totaling more than $22 million. The disaster declaration approved by President Donald Trump makes public assistance available for 21 counties in Georgia.

“The declaration will provide resources to help offset the costs of Tropical Storm Zeta,” said Chris Stallings, GEMA/HS Director. “It will be a great help to the communities recovering from this event.”

Public Assistance is available to state and local government entities and qualified not-for-profit organizations in Banks, Carroll, Cherokee, Dawson, Douglas, Fannin, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Haralson, Heard, Lumpkin, Paulding, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, Union and White Counties. It will provide financial aid for debris removal and repairs to roads, bridges and power infrastructure for up to 75 percent of the cost for the project.

Gwinnett County Public Schools will go all-online next week, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

The switch is set to only last from Jan. 19 until Jan. 22. The district had begun the spring semester with both in-person and digital learning on Jan. 7, despite calls from three of its five school board members to do a digital-only start that would have lasted through this weekend.

“As students returned to in-person and digital instruction this semester, we acknowledged the need to monitor the impact the rising COVID numbers within our community might have on our schools,” Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks said in a statement. “The reality is that our school system — like our community and the state — is feeling the results of the holidays and winter break.”

“We are experiencing higher numbers of cases, suspected cases, and close contacts among our in-person students and staff. The move to 100% digital learning for the coming week will allow us to effectively serve students while also doing what is best for our students and staff given the current situation.”

Hall County and Gainesville City schools are working to transition back to in-person learning, according to the Gainesville Times.

Hall County Schools will return to an in-person hybrid school schedule beginning Tuesday, Jan. 19, after the school system reported stabilizing COVID-19 numbers and “significantly” decreased student cases, said Superintendent WIll Schofield.

Students who have selected online learning only will continue with their online schooling. The school week will begin Tuesday, Jan. 19, as Monday, Jan. 18, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a school holiday.

The decision to return to an in-person hybrid model will be in effect through Jan. 22, and another update on the district’s plans for future school days, based on the latest COVID-19 data and spread in the community, will come on Jan. 21, the superintendent said.

In Gainesville, Superintendent Jeremy Williams announced a portion of his district’s students will also return to school on Tuesday.

The COVID-19 pandemic is being credited for a downturn in crime in Lowndes County, according to the Valdosta Daily Times.

The crime rate for the City of Valdosta fell by more than a fifth in 2020 and the police chief says the pandemic had a lot to do with it.

According to the Valdosta Police Department’s internal statistics, crime is down more than 20% for Part One crimes, including violent and property crimes, according to a statement from the city.

Property crimes are usually crimes of opportunity — for example, incidents where an individual sees valuables, such as a phone or purse, left inside cars.

In 2020, burglaries were down by more than 70 cases compared to 2019 numbers.

U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Extreme Northwest Georgia) announced she will introduce articles of impeachment against Joe Biden once he takes office, according to the Dalton Daily Citizen News.

Greene announced on Twitter that on Jan. 21 she will introduce articles of impeachment to remove President-elect Joe Biden from office for “abuse of power.”

Biden is to be inaugurated on Jan. 20.

“I would like to announce on behalf of the American people we have to make sure that our leaders are held accountable,” Greene said during an appearance on Newsmax. “We cannot have a president of the United States that is willing to abuse the power of the office of the presidency and be easily bought off by foreign governments.”

Georgia’s two new United States Senators are likely to be sworn in around January 20th, according to the AJC.

Once the state certifies the results of the Jan. 6 election, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock can take the oath of office in Washington.

That should happen around the same time as the Jan. 20 inauguration.

Their election pushed the number of Democrats in the Senate to 50; with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris having a tie-breaking votes that pushed the party in the majority. Once Warnock and Ossoff are sworn in, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer will become the majority leader.

The Senate’s first order of business is likely to be the impeachment trial where Trump faces a charge of “incitement of insurrection” tied to the violent and deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The House voted to impeach Trump on Wednesday.

President Trump signed legislation upgrading the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site to the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park, according to the AJC.

Columbia County Democrats gained ground during the runoff elections, according to the Augusta Chronicle.

Democrats showed strength in Columbia County in last week’s U.S. Senate runoffs, with support up 40% since the election of Donald Trump in 2016.

Statewide Senate winners Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff carried six of Columbia County’s 49 precincts, all located around the Grovetown area. The increase parallels massive growth at Fort Gordon, of which rapidly-growing Grovetown is the nearest residential area.

The Democratic vote share in Columbia County has grown since 18,887 voters or 29.4% cast ballots for Hillary Clinton in 2016. It was true in the November general election, when 26,236 or 36.3% voted for president-elect Joe Biden and remained so last week.

While turnout dropped from 75% in the general to 66% in the runoffs, Democrats had a slightly higher percentage of votes – 36.7% (26,497 votes) for Ossoff and 36.8% (26,545) for Warnock – in the runoffs.

Denise Mitchell was named Deputy Tax Commissioner for Gwinnett County, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.